The Free Press reports an administrator overseeing the Detroit Housing Commission, under control of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since 2005, will decide next week whether to implement a smoking ban in more than 4,000 public housing units throughout the city.

It's highly likely HUD recovery administrator Steven Meiss will approve the ban. Why? Because he already did. Back in June. But because authorities did not give residents a required 30-day notice, he must approve the ban again.

Not the mention the fact HUD last year recommended public housing authorities across the country strongly consider implementing non-smoking policies in some or all of their public housing units.

July 17, 2009, HUD: Because Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) can migrate between units in multifamily housing, causing respiratory illness, heart disease, cancer, and other adverse health effects in neighboring families, the Department is encouraging PHAs to adopt non-smoking policies. By reducing the public health risks associated with tobacco use, this notice will enhance the effectiveness of the Department’s efforts to provide increased public health protection for residents of public housing. Smoking is also an important source of fires and fire-related deaths and injuries.

Detroit would be one of the larger cities in the nation to ban smoking in public housing, but it would be far from the first. Here in Michigan, nearly 50 housing commissions already have approved no-smoking policies.

Smoking, of course, remains illegal in most Michigan workplaces -- Detroit casinos are a notable exception -- under a statewide ban lawmakers approved earlier this year.